New (used) IH 7500 Dump Truck purchase, modification & fix up

[mrmikey]

Your guys obviously know what they're doing, you got a good crew. Crossmembers look good.
You going to spray them with undercoating between?

New truck of this power with 4WD and a dump body would be $140K today.

At least.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yes. They surprised me when they repainted the inside frame. I thought they were just going to wool wax it, but since they used it as a drilling pattern, the holes became exposed metal. Probably took very little extra time to shoot the inside frame. It was scarred-up pretty good, so I’m satisfied they made that decision.
Crossmembers don’t look too bad, I agree. I thought they would have looked worse. They are painting those, too.

PTO gets here today. I have to decide on the trailer air brakes soon. I gave them the go ahead on the electric brakes and brake controller. Looks like this truck has never been used to pull a trailer.

 

[Hay Dude]

More progress today. Other side frames were installed. The’ll be painted again to get all the bolts and one more coat on the frames.

Also pintle plate was welded and braced/gusseted on. A 30 ton swiveling pintle hitch will be installed above the receiver tube. The receiver tube (for lighter trailers) is 12 ton rated.

Air lines run to the rear with glad hands and electric with trailer brakes run to the rear coming next. Wet line equipment ordered (PTO, pump, tank, lines, etc.)

Then the dump bed.

I’m used to the bed being raised/lowered via floor mount levers. Wondered if some of the extra switches on the dash could be used to turn PTO off/on?

 

[mrmikey]

Wondered if some of the extra switches on the dash could be used to turn PTO off/on?

Don't see why not, all you'd need is an electric over air actuator. It probably could be ordered in that configuration. Ours were but that was a dedicated Basic hydraulics variable displacement pump system similar to what you removed.

 

[Hay Dude]

So I got it confirmed my PTO will be activated by an existing switch on the dash. So it will be electric.

Stopped out again today and they painted the frame again.
Coming together!

Wonder if there’s a paint that would look good on the fender flares? They have sun faded badly. Or maybe just replace them….

 

[Mulder]

You can take a propane torch to them to rejuvenate the gloss of them did it to an old four wheeler once brought it back bright green better than new looking just have to be careful with the heat and speed several youtube videos

 

[Engineer42]

Rustoleum Recolor Works.

 

[mrmikey]

You can take a propane torch to them to rejuvenate the gloss of them did it to an old four wheeler once brought it back bright green better than new looking just have to be careful with the heat and speed several youtube videos

Yup, saw a video where they were rejuvenating seats in an outdoor stadium with a weed burning torch they looked bran new afterwards.

skip to 2:05 to see the result.
You want to buy those guys a case of their favorite brew HD, they appear to be doing an excellent job.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yeah, my budget is somewhat blown up, but I still think the end product will come it at about 55K. I budgeted 45-50, but admittedly I added the air lines and the smaller trailer hitch so that added a few thousand. Also a few unexpected repairs and I wasted about 2K trying to salvage the outer frames with sandblasting & painting. Live & learn I guess….

New large 4x4 out of the question, so at about 1/3rd the price of new, I feel pretty good. Very hard to find a 7500 with an HT570, automatic, 42K GVWR and 4WD. Also has AC and decent air ride seats, heated mirrors, extra gauges, etc.

I’m getting anxious to get it finished now. Work piling up, literally.

Starting to think about the replacement wheels. I’d like to install these on the rear axle. Just thinking about if they’d get damaged off road.

Also what, if anything else, I should be thinking about for a dump bed tarp, bed vibe, bed lighting, etc. My wallet is still open, but closing soon LOL

 

[mrmikey]

Can never have to many lights IMHO.
Can't remember the body exactly, any shouldering/coal doors if they're any use to your final end use ideas.
Secondary tail gate locks?
Tailgate cylinder and body air lines in good shape, they're a pia to work on when mounted depending on their location as is the linkage.
Tipping hinge pins, grease nipples.